A Response to the Cop-Sponsored Racist Mailer in 79th Assembly Primary Contest
Voting is wrapping up today in the 79th Assembly District primary. Chances are two of the five candidates will compete in June for the opportunity to replace Dr. Shirley Weber in Sacramento.
Unfortunately, the campaign is ending on an ugly note. A political action committee funded by law enforcement associations mailed an independent expenditure flyer to voters used visuals to cast Dr. Akilah Weber as supportive of and/or indifferent to the riots that took place in La Mesa following the murder of #GeorgeFloyd and the aggressive and unlawful arrest of #AmaurieJohnson.
La Mesa City Council member Weber (daughter of Shirley) is the acknowledged front runner in the race due to name recognition and early political support. In her role as an elected official she a) supported imposition of a curfew and b) signed off on asking for national guard assistance.
So the basic premise of the mailer is false. All that’s left is the picture of her Black face framed by images of burning buildings.
The real question in this contest (assuming Weber doesn’t get more than 50% of the vote) is who will land in second place, qualifying that person to move on to the general election.
Some think it will be the sole Republican in the contest, Marco Contreras, assuming that his party shows up at the polls and votes. The three other candidates are all Democrats.
Those backing Leticia Munguia have put a lot of effort into getting her past Conteras. And I’m guessing things aren’t looking too good. Hence, this piece of trash mailing.
This flyer was, by any objective standard, a racist act. The organization paying for it and the consultants who created it should be held responsible for fostering hate in our communities. Unfortunately, because they’re connected to both law enforcement and labor, it’s likely nothing will happen.
While candidate Leticia Munguia is legally/technically not responsible for this smear, her failure to denounce the imagery (I checked her campaign and social media accounts) belies her claim to be a social justice advocate.
Candidate Munguia is supported by numerous union groups representing government employees, and that makes sense, given her background as an organizer.
From Voice of San Diego:
When asked if she would accept police union support, Munguia said she has met with a local police union and indicated she would accept their endorsement.
The San Diego County Democratic Party has acknowledged the problematic nature of police union support for candidates, noting in a resolution saying candidates should not accept such support, that “local police unions and the San Diego County Deputy Sheriff's Association have been major obstacles to such accountability.”
Democratic Party chair Will Rodriguez-Kennedy took to Facebook calling on Leticia Munguia to condemn the ad.
To lay civil unrest, or a “riot”, especially considering that the conditions for that unrest were set by Police Departments use of force policies and the disproportionate treatment and extra judicial killings of Black people and other people of color throughout the country, at the feet of the sole Black council member in La Mesa is an objectively racist act.
What doesn’t make sense is the blind eye various union groups have toward government employee/law enforcement related associations when it comes to racism.
(I get it that collective bargaining is in everybody’s interest and don’t think that representing a particular flavor of public employees should limit freedom of expression. I just think that racist actions are akin to yelling fire in a crowded theater.)
Yeah, yeah, I know. Nobody wants to be telling anybody what to do with their business. Even when it has to do with racism.
That’s a big part of what got George Floyd killed. Racism in San Diego and Minneapolis is a today problem that can no longer be ignored.
While the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis has “officially” condemned ex-officer Derek Chaunvin’s actions in Floyd’s death, they’ve also made it a point to say systematic racism isn’t a problem in the police department. City leaders, including the police chief, have accused the union of being a major obstacle to changing the department’s culture and getting rid of problem officers.
From the Marshall Project, a nonprofit effort focused on criminal justice:
The president of Minneapolis’s police union called George Floyd a “violent criminal” and those protesting his killing by a police officer a “terrorist movement.” A union chief in Baltimore once said Black Lives Matter activists were a “lynch mob”; one in Philadelphia referred to them as “a pack of rabid animals.” Another has labeled St. Louis’s democratically elected prosecutor, who is black and supports police reform, a “menace to society” who must be removed “by force” if necessary.
Academic studies and investigative reporting have repeatedly made the case that police union leaders have long protected members accused of brutality and racism by winning employment contracts that make it difficult or impossible to fire or discipline them. They have also neutered internal-affairs units and civilian review boards, both of which also try to hold bad cops accountable.
Locally, funders for the California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations, aka SAC PAC, involvement in the AD 79 race include San Diego Deputy Sheriffs Association and the Chula Vista Police Officers Association.
The County Sheriff’s Department is notorious for its use and abuse of force. In recent years, the county has paid out more than $10 million in damage claims (with a $12 million claim pending). The local jail system, run by the Sheriff, holds the dubious distinction of having the highest mortality rate in the state.
A recent report in the Union-Tribune, based on data from nearly 500,000 stops conducted by the two largest law enforcement agencies in the county — the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, made it clear that bias is a problem in local law enforcement.
Nearly forty percent of the 10,165 black people stopped by SD Sheriffs were contacted because of “reasonable suspicion,” even though the department's own data shows White people were more often to be found with contraband.
The Deputy Sheriffs Association has long played a negative role in local political campaigns. The one that stands out the most to me would be the 2018 County District Attorney’s contest, where the SDDSA created advertising using anti-semitic themes in opposition to candidate Geneviéve Jones-Wright.
The Chula Vista Police Department, while not as infamous as County Sheriffs, has its own problems when it comes to race, as in the death of a 5’4” black man occuring after a 911 call about suicidal behavior.
See if this sounds vaguely familiar:
“The collective weight of the police officers on Mr. Nunis’ chest and upper body was a substantial factor causing his heart to begin beating frantically as Mr. Nunis struggled to breath,” the liability claim states. “The police officers’ collective weight on Mr. Nunis’ body was a substantial factor causing his death.”
All of SAC PAC’s $130,000+ donations in this race were “late expenditures,” a move often made to shield candidates from criticism when unsavory actors get involved in a contest, even when an “independent expenditure” is involved.
The mailer in question, according to Form 496 filed with the Secretary of State, cost $9880.83 and is listed as being in “opposition” to Dr. Weber’s candidacy.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for the next quarterly report to get a better idea of where the money came from. But I don’t think I’ll be surprised.
Three things need to happen, regardless.
The County Sheriff’s Department is funded by the Board of Supervisors; they need to send a message. Figure it out.
The Sheriff’s Department needs new leadership. There will be a progressive candidate on the ballot in 2022, namely Dave Meyers, a retired commander with the San Diego Sheriff's Department.
While I realize the issue of law enforcement unions within the larger labor movement is a problem, there is NO EXCUSE for silence.
If you see something, say something!
AFSCME District Council 36
AFSCME Local 127
AFSCME Local 830
AFSCME Local 3090
California School Employees Association (CSEA)
LIUNA Local 89
National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)
SEIU California
Teamsters Joint Council 42
UNITE HERE Local 30
United Nurses of California / Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP)
https://twitter.com/LoveForgivPeace/status/1375319254245904385?s=20
What is clear about this mailer is that racism is alive and well in San Diego. The old saw about this area being the Mississippi of the West continues to hold true.
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